» PIT STOP! » the Guido fanlisting

Guido is one of the characters from the Disney/Pixar animated movie Cars. According to everyone I know (everyone who's seen the movie, duh :)) he's simply adorable, probably the cutest character in the whole movie - and he absolutely rocks. If you've seen the movie too (I assume you have, if you're reading this) I'm sure you know why I say so ;)

basics »

Guido is a little Italian forklift, Luigi's assistant and best friend. Like his boss, Guido is an avid Ferrari racing fan who dreams of performing a real pit-stop on a real racecar. In fact, the only words Guido knows in English are "pit stop" (*Taken from the official site)

random facts »

Top speed: 20mph on a good day and travelling downhill
Can change a tire in 2.5 seconds flat
It seems he was named after his own voice actor, Pixar's Guido Quaroni (see below)...
... Although Guido, apart from being an Italian name, is also the Italian for "I drive" - so it's a pretty good name for a car after all ;)
According to IMDB, Guido is an ISO Isetta, a "bubble car" originally designed and built in Italy by ISO; the design was later licensed to BMW and to manufacturers in France and Brazil.
Another note from IMDB: since the movie has lines in Italian, the release in Italy (where foreign movies are mostly dubbed) was handled with a twist. Luigi was dubbed with a slight Modena accent (the home town of Ferrari) and Guido was dubbed with a thick Modenese dialect.
During the race sequence between Lightning McQueen and Doc Hudson, Guido is seen wearing a wig of green, white, and red, the colors of the Italian flag. He is also holding a yellow and black Ferrari racing shield in each of his forklift arms.

Guido in the movie »

Guido is one of the few remaining citizens of Radiator Springs, the desert town in Route 66 where Lighting McQueen accidentally ends on his way to California. Guido is, as mentioned above, Luigi's assistant - being Luigi the owner of Casa Della Tires, a.k.a. "Home of the Leaning Tower of Tires" ;) the town's tire store.

As the huge Ferrari fan he is, Guido is really excited at first to meet McQueen, the closest he's ever been to a "real" racing car. However Luigi and him are quickly disappointed when they know that McQueen isn't close to any Ferraris actually, since they race in the European circuit and he's in the Piston Cup. But Guido is able to be for first time in a more or less real race thanks to McQueen (when Doc challenges him), and he's happy enough with it (aw, isn't he cute with that Italian flag wig or what? :D). Before McQueen leaves the town, Luigi and Guido give him a new set of Italian white tires; then we see for first time what Guido is really capable of, changing the four McQueen tires in the blink of an eye.

However, Guido's true glory moment comes near the end of the movie. In the final racing sequence and after most of Radiator Springs' cars have arrived to be with McQueen, little Guido is actually the only member of his pit crew... the other pit crews, specially Chick Hicks', laugh at him, and Guido isn't too happy about it. No one suspects that he is the fastest tire changer on the planet though, and when the time comes he's able to change McQueen's tires even faster than he did at Casa Della Tire... the other pit crews are shocked after the Pit Stop sequence as he's done the task better and MUCH faster than any of the other teams - and on his own! Is mainly thanks to Guido that McQueen is able to catch up to the leaders and make a run for the race... a race he would have won if it wasn't for the events in the last lap.

voice actor »

I've found through Google this article about the making of Toy Story 2. There's a bit of information on it about Guido's voice actor, Guido Quaroni:

"GUIDO QUARONI - Animation Scientist on Toy Story 2
He worked in the modeling, shading and effects department. Before joining Pixar, Guido was a software engineer in Italy from 1992 to 1996. He developed a 3D modeling system called "solidThinking", which won the Best of Breed award as the best graphics package at the NeXTWorld Expo in San Francisco in 1993. Guido moved to U.S. on January 18th 1997. Guido attended the University, Electronic Engineer, in Italy from 1987 to 1992. His hometown is Milano in Italy. He was born in a little town called Pavia in 1967."

Not much more is known about him. According to his IMDB file, he's been part of the crew in a few other Pixar movies besides Cars and Toy Story 2 (Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles). His only other voice actor job so far has been in Monsters, Inc. (additional voices).